Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setelah skripsi selesai, saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu tanpa harus memikirkan nilai. - After the thesis is finished, I want to rest for a week without having to think about grades.

In Indonesian, "selesai" is an adjective meaning “finished / completed”, but adjectives can function as the predicate of a clause without any extra verb like “to be”.

So:

skripsi selesai literally = “(the) thesis finished”
→ understood as “the thesis is finished”

There is no separate verb like English “is” or “gets”; "selesai" itself works as the predicate. The clause "Setelah skripsi selesai" therefore means “After the thesis is (has been) finished”.

This kind of “adjective as predicate” is very common in Indonesian:

dia sakit = he/she is sick
makanan sudah dingin = the food is already cold

Could I also say "Setelah saya menyelesaikan skripsi"? Is there any difference in meaning or tone?

Yes, you can say "Setelah saya menyelesaikan skripsi", and it is grammatically correct.

Differences:

Focus / structure
- Setelah skripsi selesai
  - Focus on the state: the thesis being finished.
  - Implicit who finished it (obviously “I”, but not stated).
- Setelah saya menyelesaikan skripsi
  - Focus on the action: I finish the thesis.
  - Subject (saya) and action (menyelesaikan) are explicit.
Style
- "Setelah skripsi selesai" sounds a bit lighter and more conversational.
- "Setelah saya menyelesaikan skripsi" sounds a bit more formal / written and explicit.

In everyday speech, many people might still prefer "Setelah skripsi saya selesai" (adding saya to clarify whose thesis). All of these are correct; the nuance is mainly about focus and formality.

What exactly does "skripsi" mean? Is it just any essay or specifically a thesis?

"Skripsi" is a specific academic term in Indonesian. It usually means:

the final undergraduate thesis, typically required to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Key points:

It is not just any essay or assignment.
It is usually a substantial research project, often with a defense in front of examiners.
For a master’s degree, Indonesians usually say "tesis", and for a PhD, "disertasi".

So in this sentence, "skripsi" refers to that big, stressful undergrad thesis.

Why is it "saya ingin cukup istirahat" and not "saya ingin istirahat cukup"?

In Indonesian, the word "cukup" (“enough, sufficient, quite”) normally comes before the word it modifies, not after.

So the natural patterns are:

cukup istirahat = enough rest
cukup tidur = enough sleep
cukup besar = big enough

Putting "cukup" after it ("istirahat cukup") sounds strange and ungrammatical in standard Indonesian. A more natural alternative that keeps “enough” after the noun would be:

istirahat yang cukup = rest that is enough / sufficient rest

So you can say:

saya ingin cukup istirahat
saya ingin istirahat yang cukup

…but not "saya ingin istirahat cukup".

Is there any difference between "cukup istirahat", "cukup beristirahat", and "istirahat yang cukup"?

All three can be used, but there are small differences in feel and style.

cukup istirahat
- Literally: “enough rest”.
- "istirahat" is a noun here.
- Common in speech. Short and informal-neutral.
cukup beristirahat
- Literally: “to rest enough / to rest sufficiently”.
- "beristirahat" is a verb (“to rest”).
- Slightly more formal or “complete” in structure.
- Example:
  - Dokter menyarankan saya untuk cukup beristirahat.
    = The doctor advised me to rest enough.
istirahat yang cukup
- Literally: “rest that is enough / sufficient rest”.
- Very natural and common, especially in advice:
  - Kamu harus istirahat yang cukup. = You must get enough rest.

In the original sentence, you could smoothly say:

saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu
saya ingin istirahat yang cukup selama seminggu
saya ingin cukup beristirahat selama seminggu

All are acceptable; the differences are minor and mostly about style and formality.

Should I say "seminggu" or "selama seminggu"? Are both correct?

Both are correct; the meaning is basically the same: “for a week”.

seminggu
- Literally “one week”, often used by itself to express duration.
- Shorter, very common in speech.
- istirahat seminggu = rest (for) a week.
selama seminggu
- selama explicitly means “for (a period of time) / during”.
- Slightly more explicit and formal.
- istirahat selama seminggu = rest for a week.

In most everyday contexts, you can freely switch between them without changing the meaning.

In "tanpa harus memikirkan nilai", why is "harus" there? Would "tanpa memikirkan nilai" be wrong?

Both are grammatical, but the nuance is different.

tanpa memikirkan nilai
- Literally: “without thinking about grades”.
- Focus: during that week, you do not think about grades at all.
tanpa harus memikirkan nilai
- Literally: “without having to think about grades”.
- "harus" = must / have to.
- Focus: you are free from the obligation or pressure to think about grades.
- It suggests relief from stress or duty.

So "tanpa harus memikirkan nilai" captures the feeling:
> “I want to rest for a week without needing to worry about grades anymore.”

If you remove "harus", the sentence becomes a bit stronger: it sounds like you won’t think about grades at all, rather than just being free from the obligation to.

What's the difference between "memikirkan nilai" and "berpikir tentang nilai"?

Both relate to “thinking about grades”, but they differ in structure and nuance.

memikirkan nilai
- memikirkan = to think about / to think over / to consider deeply.
- Transitive verb: memikirkan + [object].
- Implies focused, deliberate, sometimes worried thought.
- memikirkan nilai feels like “to worry about / dwell on grades”.
berpikir tentang nilai
- berpikir = to think (in general).
- Needs a preposition: berpikir tentang X = think about X.
- More neutral; doesn’t automatically carry the sense of stress or anxiety.

In the context of finishing a skripsi, "memikirkan nilai" fits very well because it suggests you’re preoccupied or anxious about your grade.
If you say "tanpa berpikir tentang nilai", it still makes sense, but it sounds a bit more neutral and less like you were stressed.

Does "nilai" here mean “values” (like morals) or “grades” at school?

The word "nilai" has several meanings, including:

grade / mark (in school, exams, assignments)
value in a numerical sense (price, score, etc.)
values / principles (e.g., nilai moral, moral values)

In the sentence about skripsi, the natural interpretation is:

nilai = grade / mark for the thesis or for courses.

Indonesians will automatically connect "skripsi" and "nilai" to academic grades, not to moral values.

Is the whole sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Could I say it to a professor?

The sentence is neutral to slightly informal, but still polite enough for many contexts.

saya → polite / neutral first-person pronoun.
Vocabulary like skripsi, istirahat, memikirkan, nilai → standard, not slang.

You could say this to a professor, especially in a relaxed conversation, but if you want to sound a bit more formal or careful, you might slightly polish it, for example:

Setelah skripsi saya selesai, saya ingin beristirahat selama satu minggu tanpa memikirkan nilai.

This version:

adds saya to skripsi (skripsi saya),
uses beristirahat (slightly more formal),
uses selama satu minggu (more complete than just seminggu).

But your original sentence is not rude or inappropriate; it just sounds a bit more casual and spoken.

How do we know this means “I will rest” in the future if there is no future tense marker?

Indonesian usually does not mark tense with verb endings like English does. Instead, it relies on:

time words (e.g., kemarin, besok, nanti, sekarang)
context
sequence markers like "setelah" (after)

In the sentence:

Setelah skripsi selesai = after the thesis is finished (a future point from now).
saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu = I want to rest for a week.

Because “after the thesis is finished” is in the future, and “I want to” refers to a future intention, the whole event is understood as a future plan.

If you really want to be extra clear about the future, you could add "nanti" (“later”):

Setelah skripsi selesai, nanti saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu…
…but it’s not necessary; the original is already clearly future from context.

Could the comma after "Setelah skripsi selesai" be omitted? Does punctuation change the meaning?

Yes, the comma can be omitted in normal writing:

Setelah skripsi selesai, saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu…
Setelah skripsi selesai saya ingin cukup istirahat seminggu…

Both are acceptable.

The comma mainly:

marks a pause (just like in English),
makes the structure clearer by separating the time clause (“After the thesis is finished”) from the main clause (“I want to rest…”).

It does not change the meaning; it only affects readability and how you might pause when reading aloud. In careful writing, most people would keep the comma.